Race #6 of the Season: Autumn Color Run

This recap is a week late, but for good reasons:

1. I hadn't uploaded pictures yet.
2. I've worked a whole ton.
3. It's been emotionally stressful (pretty much lost a long-time friend this week ... no, she's not dead ... she just apparently did a 180 in personality. yeah.).
4. The crappy, dreary, rainy, cold, gloomy weather hasn't helped either.

In any case, I finally uploaded pictures and the sun's FINALLY come out again, so yay, race update.

Anyway, this year's recap is somewhat similar to last year's recap ... right down to the crappy breakfast. We managed a better meal the night before (and our pre-race sushi for lunch instead!), though.

So, last Saturday morning, we woke up, I tossed on my winner underoos, got dressed and headed the 30 miles down the road from our hotel to the race site. Circumstances this year prevented us from pre-registering, so we got there with plenty of time to go do that.

After registering, we wandered over to the perma-restrooms (not the porta-potties), did our pre-race business and then warmed up, finding a sunny spot to stretch in.


Brandonpants ... chilling prior to the race.


Trying to stay warm!

Soon enough, it was time to hop the bus to take us 5K down the road to the abandoned drive-in race start. We got off the buses, looked over at the turkeys at nearby house that were gobbling away and then lined up ... about 100 feet back from where we normally start. We waited for the Boy Scouts to drop the flag and tell us we were off ... I love this start. Really.


See all the guys setting their watches? The green stomach you see ended up winning the race in 14:40.8. Yeah.

The usually-not-very-organized start was even less organized this year as we were to soon find out. Anyway, this race didn't feel that good. It's a small race that's been getting bigger and bigger every year and becoming not as fun, honestly.

In terms of pain, this race also didn't feel that good. I hadn't had a chance to get in much in terms of a halfway decent run (or two) the week prior and the ones I did get in sucked. I just kept watching people pass me and pass me and pass me ... and I had no hope at all for a decent time.

Still, I kept plodding along, passing a few people along the way. I never felt like I settled into a groove, however, and my sports asthma and crappy breathing kicked in near the end of the race. Since I parked right near the course this year, I was hoping to pick it up once I saw my car, but I couldn't manage a sprint until I was already in the "chute" (i use the term lightly).

I was crying as I finished, due to my breathing issues and just the overall crappiness that I felt. I waited for my breathing to subside and then walked to the car to change into flip-flops, stopping for a few pictures first.


The race fairy!


Me with said race fairy.

After changing shirts and shoes, we headed back to the park for some post-race snacks, grabbing a silly picture in the process.

We like oranges!

After food, we waited around the park a long time for our results, neither of us having any clue of what we finished in. Brandon had heard a time close to his, but also the news that they were having timing issues (... which was probably why our start was even less organized this year). After a while, we said, ah, screw it and went to the car to go home ... and realized the battery was dead. I remember my purse handle getting caught on one of my light steering wheel lever thingys and I thought I had put everything back to normal ... but apparently not.

So, we walked back to the park to find someone with jumper cables. In the process, we found out our times - I finished in 27:35.5 - 8:52.85/mi ... my second time under 9:00/mi this year.

I didn't believe it. Add the 50 seconds of wonkiness the race people were talking about? Yeah, I'd believe that. But, what the race people say goes, so I'll take it.

After finding out our results, we also found some nice EMTs who had jumper cables in their ambulance, so we bugged them to help jump me and send us on our way home.

As Brandon said, the race was our last official one of the season, even though we're planning to do some sort of Turkey Trot-type race on Thanksgiving. We'll see how that goes, though, as this week has been a struggle in terms of working out. Damn stress.

Autumn Color Run - My Course

Earlier in the year, girlfriend and I decided the Autumn Color Run would be our last official 5K of our running season. We both like this run and last year it gave us our P.R's last year. Here's our last year's recap.

This year, running hasn't exactly been our cup of tea. For girlfriend, she's been struggling with it pretty much all season...for reasons we don't quite understand. As for me, I've done pretty well with it, but still have yet to get into that groove that I did last year. Nagging injuries have plagued me all season long and the week before this race, I thought I might be dealing with a muscle tear in my right calf. I took a few days off from working out though and I think that did the trick.

Regardless, we drove up to Buena Vista and Salida to accomplish what we had been dreaming about all year long. We dealt with some construction on 24 which didn't make either of us happy, but eventually we made it to Salida. We checked into the hotel and went to a little cafe to get something to eat. Then we stopped at Wal-Mart to get some stuff and went back to the hotel to relax and sleep.

Woke up very early and headed over to breakfast. Powdery scrambled eggs, paper-thin bacon, and raisin bran were my breakfast, along with water, milk, and a banana. We ate, changed into our running stuff, and packed the car, ready to head to Buena Vista.

We got there and registered. With plenty of time to kill, we hit the fixed bathroom that we found last year and began stretching and warming up. The sun was definitely warming the place up, but it was still very chilly. I also began thinking that this year wasn't my year to get a P.R. I just wasn't sure I could pull it off.

We loaded ourselves on the bus and headed 3.1 miles up the road to the turnoff where our race began. For whatever reason, they started us further back from the road this year. Don't know why they did this, but I digress. Someone said 3-2-1 and we were off!

I was in 1st place for maybe .01 miles, but still, I have officially lead a race in my life! I sprinted across the road so I could run down facing traffic and attempted to settle into a groove. I forgot how they really don't have mile markers for this race, so there's really no way of knowing where I'm at. Also, there's no water tables, which would have been kind of nice...not going to lie.

I saw the town and figured I would be close to my P.R., which is 27:17. I had to remind myself not to push it yet. I had been trying to catch this one guy the entire race who I would estimate was no more than 5 seconds ahead of me; yet I couldn't catch him. I saw the turn towards the finish and kicked it into high gear. And I passed the guy! I hit the finish line at full speed and quickly asked the time guy where I finished. He said they were at 27:15 but had problems with the timing. Oh great, I thought, another year of a botched time. And this year, I didn't keep track on my own. I started walking towards the turn and saw girlfriend booking it in. I cheered her on to the finish.

We both took in a lot of the snacks and pastries they offered us post-race and waited...and waited...and waited...apparently they had a big problem with the timing. The race director dude said he wants to go to chip timing or some other form of electronic timing. We decided to not wait around and just head home. Of course, girlfriend's car didn't start, so we had to try to get it jump-started. First though, we would see if the resluts were posted. And then we saw it. My time...25:57! I was shocked and amazed. Apparently they had major issues with timing, but that was the accurate time. I was blown away. Girlfriend finished in 27:35, which is her best time in the past two years. Happy, we decided to skedaddle. I decided to ask the ambulance driver if he could help us. He jumped the car and home we went.

A great way to close out my racing season.

Race #5 of the Season: Alferd Packer Cannibal Run

After the tri, Brandon and I hadn't really planned on doing another race until the Autumn Color Run, which would be the technical end of our racing season (with a thanksgiving race for the hell of it).

However, I came across a fun-sounding race in one of the free local sports magazines given to us at another race (one of those mags that have lists of all local competitions) - "Run For Your Life: The Alferd Packer Cannibal Run."

For those of you who don't know who Alferd (or alfred) Packer is/was, think the Donner Party of Colorado. Long story short, Packer led a group of miners from Utah to Colorado hoping to find gold. The trek was in winter, they got lost ... Packer was the only one who showed up out of the group to Colorado. Remnants of the bodies of the others were found and Packer was accused of cannibalism; got tried for murder, but only served time for manslaughter. His grave is found in Littleton Cemetery ... and Trey Parker and Matt Stone of "South Park" fame made a musical movie about his story which is hysterical and I recommend it to all (and will eventually make brandon watch it).

ANYWAY, as part of Western Welcome Week, the Littleton Rotary club apparently hosts a 5K/10K race in Packer's honor called the "Alferd Packer Cannibal Run." It landed on Brandon's birthday and as he "didn't want to do anything" for his b-day ... I figured running a 5K would be fun. So we signed up for it.

We arrived at the race at 7am to pick up our packets and despite some snafus regarding the race people figuring out who we were, we got our stuff and were pleasantly surprised to learn that you had the option of being chip timed. Obviously we exercised said option.


Brandon before the race with Ivan and Nelson.

Given that we were there so early, we took time to do our, um, business (mine didn't go so well; of course, my food consumption lately has been crap, crap and more crap) and stretch out really well. Also, given that it was Brandon's birthday, I got him a party hat to run in!



We had discussed a sash, but I forgot about it and had found the hat a few days prior, so we went with the hat.

Anyway, there weren't a lot of people lined up for the start despite there being two events, so we snapped another picture before we ran.



At 8am, we were off. The race went partially along the Platte River on the same trail that we'd cycled on a multitude of times before. We knew that the race would be partially on the Platte ... but we didn't know that it would be less than a mile of it. Right around the marker for the first mile ... we made the left to go back under Santa Fe and head toward Prince (and Packer's grave) ... which, go figure, was uphill. However, it was also out of the headwind that we usually bitch about while on our bikes, so that was good.

Much of the second mile was uphill including some fairly tough sections within the first quarter mile of mile two. Stupid me also forgot that Prince was also a nice, hilly road. Anyway, we kept plugging along until the second mile marker which was right after we ran past Packer's grave.

We continued on Prince for a little while longer, sloping downhill and cutting on to another trail to go back under Santa Fe back toward the finish line. This part was relatively flat, which was nice. We were thanking all the race volunteers and cops we passed ... most of whom were high school kids who paid us no mind. Losers.

Soon enough though, we were nearing the home stretch. Almost forgetting I had my camera, I snapped a pic of Brandon running in that last quarter-mile.



Right after this point, we made the turn to the 5K finish and started our final kick - the only time we really didn't run together. As I have a marginally better kick, I finished a second ahead of him in 32:46 ... for around a 10:32/mile. Not great, but not bad, either.

I know I have lots to work on in terms of my running if I want a good time at Autumn Color this year, but I know that I can push through and do it. Hey, I didn't walk this race and it was one of the few runs I've done with Brandon (and actually WITH him) that I've enjoyed myself.

Race #3 of the Season: Lone Tree Firecracker 5K

So I've been waiting to update and blog about this race until I got my pictures from said race uploaded on my camera. However, I do all of my picture dealing on my laptop and said laptop has chosen to completely die and not boot up anymore.

Yeah.

So, no pictures. Boo. However, I'll give a marginal race report.

To start off, my running lately has been horrible. Awful. Horribly awful. I can't seem to shake the sports asthma (which i usually can as i train more and more) and running just is not getting any easier. My times continue to suck and suck hard. As a result, I wasn't expecting a lot out of this race.

Brandon wasn't either and we started off running it together, but I just couldn't hold his pace. So I walked and made him go on ahead. I alternated running and walking throughout the course (up giant ass hill to smaller hill down small hill up baby hill down big hill), finishing in 32:28 or 10:27/mile.

Not good. May still be my best time on that course (don't remember and too lazy to look back), but it's been disheartening.

In other training news, swimming is the only thing seemingly going well ... when I swim. It's hard to motivate myself to cycle or really, train at all. It's getting to the point that I want to retire from racing after the tri (since i've already paid for the damn thing). I probably won't, but still ... training (or lack thereof) has been going THAT badly.

Race #2 of the Season: Rockies' Home Run for the Homeless

Yes, this is my long overdue race report from LAST SUNDAY'S race. Results were finally posted a few days ago, but I'd been lazy (okay, too busy to) and hadn't uploaded my photos until today.

So, here we go ...


Brandon after his pre-race poop. I took mine right after.

After port-o-pottying and stretching, we found some poor sap (okay, some chick who offered) to take our picture.

We then found our way to the start line.



At about 8:15am, we were off. Brandon soon sprinted ahead of me, but I stayed steady. TONS of people passed me (we were kind of near the front because this race didn't have chip timing), but I wanted to stay consistent.

Mile 1: 10:22 (or so the dude called out)

Right after Mile 1, we headed out of downtown proper, up a hill and on the other side of I-25. Most of the second mile was over there. Up another hill, over another bridge and going back down into downtown finished it out.

Mile 2: 20:44 (see above)

At this point, I was apparently running EXACTLY a 10:22 pace which is kind of funny. Consistent? Ridiculously so.

After Mile 2 is when I started to hurt a little. At Mile 2, you're running next to the stadium, but then hang a right and loop back around and in. I was considering walking, but told myself "NO" and kept on plugging. Soon, it was time to enter the stadium ... and the deceptive part of the race (which brandon got a picture of because i gave him my camera).


It's kind of hard to see, but there's the finish line. You see it, maybe get a glimpse of your time ... and then, oh wait, you still have to run around the damn warning track.

Right after this point, I saw Brandon running out of Coors Field as I was running in and knew he was doing a lot better than I was. Still, I kept running. I also think I screwed myself a little by leaping up and high-fiving all the kids along the wall. Kicked my calves in the process and ow.

I also (somehow) had enough in me for my final kick.

I finished just under 32:00 with a 31:55 finish and a 10:17/mile pace, which means I kicked it up a tad for the final 1.1 miles.

According to the fun e-mail I got from the race people:
- I placed 737th out of 2184 finishers
- I was 309th out of 1227 women
- I was 92nd out of 246 in my age group (25-29). What doesn't help was that the winning female was also in my age group, with a time of 19:36. Ouch.

I'm not the happiest with my race performance, but I still improved on my first time of the season which is really all I care about right now.

Now, it's time to focus on training. No more races (most likely) until the Lone Tree Firecracker 5K, so it's time to beat my ass into shape.

2nd 5K of the season...nearly a PR

Time to blog about the Rockies 5K Home Run for the Homeless.

When girlfriend and I were in the offseason, we both realized that while running races is fun and we like getting race t-shirts, we don't want to pay 30 bucks to run 3.1 miles. So we determined which 5K's we really enjoyed last year and wanted to do again, and the Rockies race made the cut. I'll explain why I like this race later.

Woke up super early on Sunday and made up breakfast. Of course, stupid Denver had to be cold that morning. So I wore my standard get up of shorts, long underwear up top, and my Nike race shirt. We got to Coors Field in plenty of time to have a pre-race poop. Then we warmed up and stretched. Also took in some of the sites and sounds of the race. Last year I remember there being a lot more dirty hookers wearing Tulo shirts. This year, I think the temperature and clouds kept them away. Whatever, fine by me.

When the gun went off (ok, airhorn) I ran with girlfriend for maybe .01 miles and then lost her. We decided at the beginning I was going to do this one on my own. And in the back of my mind, I was going for a PR, but I knew it would be a stretch.

Nonetheless, I settled into a great pace. The first mile was 9:30 and I felt like I wasn't even pushing myself that hard. In the 2nd mile, I amazingly held about the same pace, and when I hit the mile sign and the dude called out 18:45, I knew a record was in reach. However, I also realized I was pushing myself, and that to reach my PR, it would take a lot of strength, grit, and determination.

As Coors Field came in sight, I remembered that we had to make a right turn, then double back to the stadium. At this point, I was maybe at 23:00 in. Knowing I still had a lap around the warning track, I decided that a PR wasn't in the cards. I wasn't upset however, and kept pushing. As I hit the warning track, I dug deep and pushed myself. Coming out of the stadium, I got to see girlfriendpants running in. She said go baby dinosaur, but I wasn't able to formulate a sentence back. :-( The finish line in sight, I picked it up, crossing officially at 28:56. Being that I didn't cross the start line right at the beginning, my Nike+ timer said 28:39, but whatever, no big deal. Either way, a huge improvement on last year and also the knowledge that I am improving.

So why is this race one of my favorites? In addition to an relatively easy course and a cool lap around the warning track, I love the post-race food. Bagels, bananas, squishies, and ballpark hot dogs! Seriously. That is so badass.

So...obviously something to build on, and something to be proud of as well. And if you're wondering what my PR is, it's 27:17.

Sneak, Rockies, Grr.

Brandon and I did run the Colorado Rockies' Home Run for the Homeless on Sunday, but the official race results aren't up yet so I've been waiting on blogging. *sigh* I did beat my Sneak time, however, and Brandon was about a minute shy of PRing so I'm super proud of him.

Anyway, the official race photos from the Sneak came out from FotoJack, so I wanted to share those with you. :)

Brandon's there with the white shirt and black shorts.

Remember how I said I took a photo of one of the course photogs? Yeah, well I was right and that same photog got three pictures of me. Here's the first ... with my shorts looking awkward ...

Camera's now down and I look silly. Like stupid silly. Oh well, at least this got me smiling with less than a half-mile to go, you know?

And here's me running after everything. Best picture the photog got of me.

Hopefully, the Rockies race results will be up soon so I can blog about that ...

Race #1 of the Season: Cherry Creek Sneak

This past Sunday, Brandon and I ran our first race of the season - the Cherry Creek Sneak. We also did this race last year - it was Brandon's first race and the day he officially became a runner (or so we said).

I wasn't expecting too much out of this one, especially since we ended up signing up for the 5K version of the race instead of the 5mi version we had originally hoped to do. Still, run it we did.

I got prepped the night before after my shower by tossing on my "winner" underwear - I wore them the night before the Autumn Color Run last year which ended up being my best race of the season. So, I figured it wouldn't hurt to actually wear them for a race.



We got to sleep and then woke up Sunday morning ... although it was cold in the house and we didn't want to get up. Still, we did, got ready, ate breakfast and were out the door by 6:45am. Although the race didn't start until 8am, we wanted to get there early so we could park before they closed down the last of the streets.

We got there in plenty of time, parked, decided to get rid of a layer or two as it was warmer than weather.com said it would be, warmed up and stretched and I decided to poop (it was a decent poo. good sign!). We also wandered around what would end up being the post-race area in search of some PowerAde for Brandon ... and took pictures.




Finally, it was time to line up for the race.



Aaaand, we were off! Given that it was our first race of the season, we decided to run it together. Brandon's in a bit better shape than I am so it was a bit of a struggle for him to stay with me and my slow pace, but he did anyway.

He had his iPod for his Nike+ thing ... which helped a bit in keeping pace. We did the first mile in about 11 minutes, which was a little slow, but the first mile of a race always sucks, with getting into a groove and jockeying for position and dodging people and whatnot. We picked it up a bit during mile two, as we cut it down to a 10-something minute mile. I was in a bit of pain, but I kept moving; Brandon had to stop twice to tie his shoe.

We were hoping to make the last 1.1 miles our quickest, but I know it didn't happen with me (... well, maybe. don't know my actual splits; just my average). Brandon stayed with me until near the end when I told him to just go and finish. So, he sprinted ahead of me while I kept going. I took a picture of one of the FotoJack people, but it was too blurry for me to keep. :( Here's hoping that one makes it through ...

Anyway, I had just enough for a final kick to sprint across the finish line ... which I did in 32:47.5 for a 10:33.28/mi average. Definitely not my best race, but when I looked back on my race times from last year ... it was just over what I did for my third race last year. So ... given that it was my FIRST race this year ... I'll take it.


All smiles after the race!

Sprints tonight, longer run tomorrow, lifting Thursday, softball game on Friday ... and the Colorado Rockies' Home Run for the Homeless on Sunday!

5K #7 of the Season

And yes, technically this was #8, but yeah yeah. Whatevs.

So. We drove up to Buena Vista, Colo., yesterday to pick up our packets for the Autumn Color Run. This was my last run of the season last year and PRed with a 26:27, still my fastest race to date. I really liked this race last year so Brandon and I decided to do it this year. It's a great course - yeah, it's at 8,000 feet, but it's a nice straight line for 3.1 miles and slowly drops a few hundred feet over the course. Awesome? Yes.

After battling our food anxiety issues for dinner and some pre-race hot tub soaking, we spent the night in Salida which is about 30 miles south of Buena. It wasn't the best night's sleep and I definitely didn't want to get out of bed, but get out of bed I did. We packed up our stuff, loaded the car and went back inside for the hot breakfast (go holiday inn express, man). Some watery yet dry (how that happens, i don't know) eggs, papery bacon, instant oatmeal (at least it was quaker), bruised banana, crappy orange juice and coffee-milk, we were on the road back to Buena.

We got to Buena, parked and walked to this one park. The park was the race end and where we warmed up.

Brandon getting his warm-up playlist going on the ol' iPod.

Us pre-warm up.

We started to think we needed to poop, but the line at the port-o-potties was RIDICULOUSLY long. Luckily, the race director told us about another bathroom in another part of the park. A permanent bathroom.

Yay for actual restrooms at a race!

Sadly, I couldn't really poo, so I decided to try and warm up some instead. After some dynamic stretching (not plyometrics ... but kind of. i forget the name of them. did them for hockey all the time), some jumping jacks and some regular stretching, I decided to try and poo again. I was only marginally successful.

Since my bowels were not going to cooperate, I said a quick prayer to the running gods and asked if they did anything for me that race, they'd let any urges to go to wait until AFTER I crossed the finish line. I said this while we were walking back to the race central part of the park ... passing the port-o-potties. We saw people getting on the bus already, but I snapped a quick shot:

Only two port-o-potties for this race. Yeah, it's a small one.

We hopped on the bus (almost late! oops) and were driven 3.1 miles away to the race start which was officially outside of the city limits in random unincorporated Chaffee County.

Getting off the buses. Yes, that's Brandon in black.


Start was at an abandoned drive-in. How cool is that?


Pretty! View from the start.

The race people who were at the start got word of the time (or something) on their walkie-talkies, some Boy Scout shouted "GO" and we were off. As everyone was on the right side of the street, I was smart and immediately headed to the LEFT side so I was running against traffic, not with it. I also made sure I was in the margin as the county road we were running down wasn't closed to cars. I almost took a few pictures of the cars, but didn't feel like taking the time to do so.

Being on that side of the road meant I could see the spray painted mile markers on the street. Because of those, I'm pretty damn convinced that NO RACE has proper mileage signs. Or at least no race in Colorado. I saw the one mile marker painted on the ground and then, at least a good five minutes later (judging by the songs on my ipod), a sandwich board saying that there was two miles to go. A tenth of a mile in five minutes? Yeah, I'm not that slow, thanks.

Regardless, I kept running. The conditions were almost ideal - high-40s, but a little sunnier than I'd like. I passed a few people along the road which is always nice, but not too many. Once I got a bit more into town, I saw the stop light that's near the park. However, I kept my pace as I know distances can be deceiving. I didn't start to get really excited until I saw my car which was parked about three blocks away. Still, I didn't start my kick until right about the turn into the park for the finish. At that point, I saw Brandon coming back toward the course to try and get a picture of me finishing, but I told him no and just sprinted onward.

My time? There's a reason I love this race - 27:45. Nine minutes faster than my first 5K this year. 15 minutes faster than the 5K portion of the tri, but I'm not counting that. :-p It's kind of upsetting because had I finished in the same time I did last year, I would have placed second in my age group. *sigh* Still, I'm proud that I pulled that time out of my ass because I haven't done under a 9:00 mile yet this year and still have issues getting under 10:00 at times.

Even though Brandon had some issues with his time (he so finished before me though the official time won't say that due to some mishap. sucks, but i guess it's an unfortunate result of it being a VERY small race), we were still both happy about our races.


Though the Autumn Color Run is tentatively our last race of the season (*tear*), we still have possibilities on the horizon. For me, the biggest thing will be keeping up with running because I kind of stopped last year (partly because of ditching the bodybugg and just eating lots of crappy food without exercising) and it's been a total bitch getting back into it. It especially sucks because it's been a year and I'm still not back to the point I once was.

Oh well, someday, right?

7th 5K of the Season

Hooray, the 7th 5K of the season, quite possibly the last one I will be doing for the year 2008. *tear*

This 5K was called the Autumn Color 5K. Since it would be like a 3 hour drive to get there, we overnighted in Salida last night. Attempting to find good food was not easy and I ended up ordering some crappy ravioli. However, a nice relaxing soak in the hot tub helped me out. We then retreated to the room and chilled out. I played some poker and had some amazing hands, which I figured would be a good omen for the race.

Slept like shit though. There were a lot of weird noises in the hotel that woke me up, which is surprising, since I am usually a ridiculously sound sleeper. This I figured was a bad omen for the race. When we dropped our stuff off at the car, there was a fire truck and an ambulance outside. I immediately knew there was a heart attack or something in the hotel, and sure enough, I hold the door open for two paramedics who were wheeling out Old Man River on a stretcher. He was breathing, luckily.

We ate some Holiday Inn Express breakfast, which wasn't too appetizing, actually. I had some eggs, bacon, yogurt, banana, and oatmeal. We then took off for the drive up to Buena and the race.

We got there and immediately headed for the porta-potties, as we tend to do. Time was a little shorter, but we managed to stretch and get on the bus to get dropped off at the start. This race is unlike any I have done to date. There is no starting line; just a Boy Scout volunteer that says "go". The course is also a straight line; they bus you to the start and you run to the finish line where the bus picked you up.

So anyway, the bus dropped us off and after a minute or two of dinking around, we heard go and were off. I was so startled by it I couldn't even get my Nike+ thing going, which didn't matter anyway, because again it wasn't working. *tear*

I juggled with my iPod still and was able to get my running playlist on. And I was finally in the groove. Shortly after the race started my shoe came untied so I had to tie that, goddammit. Got knocked out of the groove of course, but settled in quickly.

When I saw the 2 mile to go sign, I was in disbelief. I didn't feel like I was running that spectacular, but I had an idea, and when I'm 13 minutes deep into my running playlist, I knew I wasn't running a 13 minute mile. Then something happened to me that really hasn't since the Rockies 5K. I settled into a consistent pace. I was able to hold a steady pace through pretty much the whole rest of the race. It was awesome!

I saw the finish and picked up my speed. I crossed the finish line not knowing my time, but hearing about 10 seconds after that people were in the 27 minute. I tried to go back for girlfriend to get her camera, but she was pretty much right behind me and she crossed the finish line in 27:45. We were both pretty happy about our times and went to get some post-race goodies and wait for the official times to get posted.

Unfortunately, something happened. Girlfriend's time got posted,but mine wasn't on the board. We then finally found it, and it said 28:17. The endorphines that I felt were gone. I was downcast and sad, because in my mind, nothing matters other than the official time that is posted. To make matters worse, when we tried to talk to someone about possibly getting my time changed, they balked at the idea, even though it was obvious that I finished in front of girlfriend.

We determined that I finished in between 27:00 and 27:30, roughly 30 seconds ahead of the girl. We called it 27:17. I ran the time of my playlist and it added up. So I'm ok with that. It's a PR obviously, which feels amazing. And it is a good feeling knowing how well I actually ran. I can keep working at it and keep improving.

5K #6 of the Season ...

... technically. Technically this is 5K #7 if you count the one with the tri, but for argument's (and blog) sake, we'll call the SkirtChaser #6.



Brandon and I in our get ups.

We left the house fairly early so we could stop and pick up a small pre-race snack of a bagel and cream cheese (split between us), banana and string cheese. That got finished by 4pm (race was at 5/5:03pm) and we hit our parking spot by 4:15ish. We wandered over to the race area, used the port-o-potties (unsuccessfully, i might add - racers like Steve in a Speedo know the value of a good pre-race poop) and started stretching out.

During our warm-up, I realized that while my camera may fit in the nifty little pocket on my hip, it was way too heavy to stay in there bouncing along (and slightly tugging my skirt down) for an entire race. Too late to go back to the car, so I carried it along with me. After stretching and warming up, we were ready to go.

Us!

The craziness.

My personal Skirt Chaser. ;)

Ready except for a pre-race poop. Which Brandon managed ... but I didn't. BOO. This would come back to bite me later on.

Anyway, I was off at 5:00pm and Brandon followed at 5:03. I felt pretty good on the course for the first half of it. Though one thinks Cherry Creek North is nice and flat, the surrounding neighborhoods and area actually have some hill action going on, once again helping to prove my theory that NO race in this state is on a flat course. That, or no race I choose to do at least.

Saw Brandon for the first time after I started looping back (the race was an out-and-back). My feet felt pretty good as did my lungs except for a bit of scratchiness (getting a cold. stupid colds). HOWEVER, around Mile 2 tragedy started sinking in.

Remember the possible chub rub I talked about yesterday? Yeah. Came. With a vengeance. So needed my UnderArmour shorts. Never thought I'd say "I LOVE SPANDEX" but while running? Yeah, I think I do. The two miles had also apparently jarred my bowels enough to finally make my body realize, "Hey T? You need to poop." Thanks, self. You could have realized this 20 minutes ago.

Needless to say, the last 1.1 miles were awkward. I had to pause a few times to try and adjust the mini shorts under the otherwise-comfortable skirt (unsuccessfully) a few times. I also started tinkering with my stride to try and make the thigh rub pain lessen. Part of me reeeeeally wanted to walk, but I knew ultimately I shouldn't because other than the rub and the need to poo, I was feeling fine.

I managed to sprint across the finish line, ignoring the pain in about 30:44, which I believe is my fastest time this year. Sadly, the line for the volunteers to take off the race tab thingy was ass-long, so I couldn't get a picture of Brandon crossing the finish line. Instead, the closest I got was him waiting in the ass-long line.

Brandon on far right.

We grabbed water and I headed to the port-o-potty. Thankfully I wear a liner in ze ol' underoos, because the need to poop? Yeeeah. Marginally bad. There was also no toilet paper in the port-o-potty (FIGURES), but some guy was nice enough to see my hand frantically waving through my cracked open door and me calling for someone to get me some toilet paper ... and found me some toilet paper. So whoever you are, dude, THANK YOU.

After that was taken care of, I went looking for a first-aid tent or something ... and found only some volunteers with a first-aid kit. Marginally sketchy and scary when I realized that the only help on the course had I fainted or something would have been the traffic-controlling cops, I took it anyway and taped some gauze on the thighs to help alleviate further chub rub (which was already in mega ouchy pain).

We grabbed some more PowerAde and a bit of the salad and bread - the free part of the post-race food spread - but decided we didn't want to pay $5 for a barbecue sandwich. I like my BBQ, man, as well as my salad, but after a race? Give me bagels and bananas (and maybe a squishy) any day.

As a result, we bugged out and decided to pick up dinner elsewhere. On the way home, we saw the Bonnie Brae Ice Cream Parlour and said, "Ah screw it" and picked up some ice cream.



Planning on taking tomorrow somewhat easy. A walk in the morning to get some Starbucks (pumpkin spice latte season!!!!!) and then, separately, perhaps a nice easy spin on the stationary bike.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, peoples.

6th 5K of the season

As has been eluded to in numerous posts, today was the Skirtchaser 5K. This is going to be a loooong blog, so deal with it, or go read someone elses. :-p

Today we made sure to eat well. Granted we woke up WAY later than we should have, which kind of threw us off in terms of our gameplan, but we dealt with it. Ate a good breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, turkey sausage, and milk and orange juice. Ate that around 11:00 am. At 2:15 or so, went to Jamba Juice for a smoothie. I got a peach smoothie, but probably one size too big. Future mental note. On the way to the race, we stopped at Target for a bagel and cream cheese, string cheese, and a banana.

We got to the mall near the start of the course and parked the car. Changed into our shoes and made our way to the start of the race course. When we got there, I immediately grabbed a bottle of Powerade and hit the porta-potty. Then girlfriend and I stretched out. There really wasn't much of a place to stretch, so we found a patch of grass and did our thing. Then did a little bit of jogging and some calisthenics to really warm up.

Girlfriend got to the start of the race, and after hearing some speech from the woman who started skirtsports, the girls started running. Us guys then got to the start and waited 3 minutes, then we were off. I was up towards the front, which I wasn't a big fan of, but got pushed towards there and didn't have much choice.

The race started and immediately I was trying to keep up with all the crazy dudes running next to me. I was like this is stupid though, and slowed it down. Through the first half mile, I had the feeling that this was going to be a great run.

Unfortunately, I never saw the Mile 1 marker, and seriously, it's amazing how that can drag down your spirit. And it shows on my Nike+ thing. However, I pushed myself to the turnaround.

At the turn around, my speed picked up a bit and I knew I was going to crack 30 in the race. It's funny actually; there was never a point during this 5K where I was in massive pain; there was never a point where I was dying; there was never a point where I really slowed my pace down.

When I rounded the corner for the final turn, I could see the finish line. And the best part was, the course was designed so the final run was downhill. My pace steadily picked up and I was passing people! I started my final sprint WAAAAAAAAAAY too early, but still crossed the finish line feeling good. I shattered my best time of the year with a 28:42.

Post race, girlfriend was in pain, so we really didn't participate in the post-race festivities. Not only that, but the post race food was TERRIBLE!! No bananas, no bagels, no gels, juices, etc. Mizfit, if you are going to do this, bring your own post-race food. Trust me, you will not regret it.

I am very happy though. Best 5K of the season, something to build on, and finally, finally, I am feeling like a runner.

Tri Post

Okay. I really don't want to write this, but write this I must.

Going into this year's Tri for the Cure, I had goals. I wanted to chop 17:22 off last year's time to finish in an even 1:30. Needless to say, that didn't happen. We'll start at the beginning though ...

That Morning
Alarm went off bright and early for Brandon and I. I think I hit the snooze button once, but don't entirely remember. Washed my face, brushed my teeth, got into my tri suit, Body Glided a bit, grabbed my crap and went downstairs. Made a good breakfast of cantaloupe, coffee milk, orange juice, turkey sausage and a mini whole wheat tortilla with scrambled Egg Beaters and low-fat cheese. While Brandon loaded the Rav (well, unloaded hockey bags and loaded in the bike), I got my water/Gatorade bottles set and made some oatmeal to eat on the road.

At the Race Site

We ended up leaving the house a little after 6am, a little later than I wanted, but we still got to the parking site fairly quickly ... with Brandon eating most of the oatmeal. We unloaded the Rav, pumped my bike tires full of air and joined several of the other competitors in winding our way into Cherry Creek State Park and toward the transition area. I got the urge to poop on the walk down which was good ... but more on that in a second. I left Brandon just outside of transition, found a spot on the rack and hopped over to the port-o-potties. While I pooped (yay), it was not a good poop (boo) and my stomach and insides felt ... well ... not good.

I set up my transition area and then wandered back over to Brandon who found a good spot on the fence. I found my friend Amber at this point so obviously it was picture time.


Amber and her boy wearing a very cute "Team Amber" shirt

Ready and raring to go ... Or so I thought.

Brandon the cheerleader!

After the photos, I went back to my spot to warm up, stretch, pee again and all that. I was getting ready to take my sandals back off when I realized I forgot to put sunscreen on. By this point, the elite wave had already started so I had to wait for breaks between competitors to dash across the race path to Brandon to have him help slather my back up. Sunscreen applied, I went back to my crap and waited for a bit until I heard it was time for my wave to head down to the swim.

Swim



I headed down to the swim, joined up with the rest of my wave and waited until it was my turn to trod across the chip mat and hop in the water. The wave's official start time was 8:20am, but I'm pretty sure we started a few minutes later than that. I dunked my ass in the water several times, squatting down in the water covering as much of myself as I could to try and get acclimated. I had a nice spot near the outside in the back. I knew I wasn't going to be one of the quickest swimmers so I wanted to be out near the back.

That philosophy actually worked out pretty well as I didn't get kicked/swum over a lot. Sadly, about a 100 or so meters in, I somehow swallowed a crapload of nasty, brackish reservoir water and started hacking ... getting to the hacking point where you just feel the raw back of your throat.

Greeeeat.

I kept going though, needing to stop again soon after to defog the goggles. After that, I was good to go and breaststroked my little butt out, not getting passed by the following wave until the first buoy (waves are every 4 minutes). I stayed on the "inside" of the course away from most of the other people. Besides the water hacking incident, I actually felt pretty good on the swim. I couldn't run once I got out and walked most of the way back to transition, but eh.

Disappointing, however, was my time - two minutes slower than last year at 22:38.

T1



I eventually was able to get to a minor trot (okay, more of a canter past the smelly-ass port-o-potties) to make it back to my spot. I stuck my feet in my water bucket, getting most of the gunk off with that and a towel, used Body Glide for the foot blisters, got into my cycling socks and shoes, grabbed the rest of my crap and was off to the bike.

The one time highlight, I was able to cut about two minutes off my first transition time for 5:08.

Bike



I was a bit concerned about the cycling portion given that most of my training rides had been total crap. Still, I knew I had to do it so I was off. My cyclometer is still a bit messed up thanks to transport, but I got it so at least the cadence worked so I could measure that. I felt okay until about the three mile mark when the quads of MISERY started acting up. Still, I was managing to keep my cadence around the 80 mark ... until the big-ass hill around mile six or seven.

I almost got off the bike and walked. I had a giant asthma attack (used inhaler in transition but didn't bring it with me) and my cadence went down to 50something. In a word, I was miserable. I was able to regain control once I got to the top of the hill and started pedaling down it (i made sure to keep pedaling), but it was still a miserable ride.

Despite the road bike, my time on the bike actually went up (mph down) to 44:48 and 15.2mph.

T2



I was so miserable at this point. I put my bike back, drank some water and Gatorade, changed shoes and put on my race belt/number. I slooooowly made my way to the run, stopping at the water table to drink some more water and dump it on my head.


See how miserable I look? *sigh*

Time out of transition was worse than last year - 4:49.

Run

Brandon was my saving grace at the beginning of the run. After he saw how miserable and defeated I looked coming out of the bike, he somehow fought his way through the crowds, across the run course and down the gates on the other side of transition to see me walking toward the run start. He walked with me along the course for the first part of the run, talking with me and calming me down. I was very upset at this point, crying and hyperventilating a bit. He had another one of my old inhalers in the bag he had and gave it to me. It didn't help me much, but mentally I think it did. I knew my time goals were screwed, but I knew I was going to finish - that was all I cared about at that point.

Brandon was going to try and walk and/or run with me through most of the course, but I told him to go toward the finish line - I'd meet him there. I tried running a bit, but couldn't do it - it was just way too hot and I was way too miserable and my feet were overheating like mad. I eventually ended up doing a very modified walk/run ... walking most and running just little spurts. I did a race first for me by stopping at every single water station, getting water to drink a little and dump over my head. Of course, it was over 90 degrees at that point (and i think ended up getting over 100) and I was melting.

I knew this race was going to be awful. I did the run/walk thing last year, but it wasn't nearly as much walking. Although, I'm pretty sure I saw more people walking on the course this year than last year.

With about 500 meters to go, I saw Brandon on the side of the course again.


See miserable T. See miserable T run. Run, miserable T, Run.

Brandon trotted with me for as long as he could ... which meant he couldn't get back to the finish in time for me to cross. I ended up dragging out the last of what I had in me (which wasn't much) to sprint the last little bit across the finish line ... in 42:56 for my slowest 5k time/pace EVAR with a 13:50 mile.

Finis

Add all those numbers up and you get me finishing in 2:00:20, about a full 12 minutes slower (or 13 ... we journalism peoples don't do math) than last year's 1:47:22.

Needless to say, I didn't meet my time goal. I take small (but marginal) consolation in that I still did beat Amber and Gen's times from last year (and beat amber by about 5 min this year).

Still ... last year I had the biggest adrenaline rush after I finished. I could barely walk and was miserable as all hell this year.

I finished, though, and I still want to keep doing triathlons. It's relatively difficult to say that, but I've only done two - one was good, one was bad. I figure I should get a larger percentage of bad ones before I give up on them. I'm not one for excuses, but I put a decent amount of blame on the damn reservoir water. Swallowing that and getting that raw feeling in my throat I think made me more susceptible to having an asthma attack (which is made so much worse with a crappy throat). The heat was also a factor, but I don't figure that as an excuse since I really could have just trained in the heat more than I did. I shouldn't have always waited for the day to get cooler to go on a run or on a ride.

Once the official race photos finally get up on FotoJack, I'll post those as well.

Mrrf.

Not having a lot of contemplation going on here.

It was ass hot.

At one point during the bike, I almost got off and walked.

I walked most of the run.

At one point, I told myself, "It'll be an achievement just if you finish."

Longer post when I know my time and pictures get uploaded.

I do love my baby dinosaur for his support throughout the race. I don't know if I would have gotten through it without him - especially at the start at the run.

5th 5K of the season

Happy 4th to all. So this is going to be an entry about my running my 5th 5K of the season, but also a little about what today means to me. Both in happiness and seriousness.

I love this holiday. It is good in every sense of the word. A day of grilling, eating, fireworks, and general happiness. But to me, it also has meaning. I love studying the birth of our nation, and I think a lot of us forget how much shit the forefathers had to put up with to actually declare our independence. Then over the next 231 years, our freedoms, ideals, beliefs, have constantly been under attack. Think about all the wars we have had to fight just to keep this country that we love intact. People take so much shit for granted it's ridiculous. Some black woman can sing the black national anthem and get away with it, then complains that she is oppressed. Fuck that. Idiots out protesting a war that not only brought people freedom, but made our country safer. You know what? Our troops are out there fighting so you can have the right to carry that sign.

Ok, before I get too preachy...I do love my country, I am proud to be an American, and I love the 4th of July.

Now, on to the race this morning. Woke up later than we should have (damn not being able to sleep last night). Ate some breakfast, but probably overdid it with the eggs, turkey bacon, and oatmeal. I think next time we will need to cut down on the breakfast. Showed up to the race a little later than we have in the past, but still were able to stretch and warm up properly. Also pointed out all the DH's beforehand and picked who we wanted to beat.

By race time, it was ass-hot and getting hotter. I started off being a competitive fuck and ran fast, but quickly slowed down my pace, knowing that a super big ass hill was coming up. I got up to the top of Lone Tree Parkway and was feeling pretty good. I picked up my pace a tiny bit and kept going.

At the 2nd mile, I picked it up even more, although sweat was rolling down the crack of my ass like Niagara by this point. Brutally hot. At about 2.5 miles I picked up pace even more and eventually sprinted it to the finish line. My official time was 30:30...iPod said under 30, for about 29:48. I will go with official time cause I'm cool like that.

Happy 4th to all.

5K #5 of the Season

Happy 4th, everyone!



Today was the 4th annual Lone Tree Firecracker 5K as well as the fourth year I've run the race. Race times are as follows:
2005: 35:17. This was also my first ever 5K.
2006: 31:31. This was my second ever 5K. I was happy.
2007: 35:49. Hot as balls, third race of the season ... had an asthma attack part of the way through ... it was awful. I was miserable after this one.

And now ... 2008: 33:28 for a 10:46ish mile. I had to walk for a marginal little bit at two points in the race to get my breathing under control so it didn't get too crazy (like last year). It was still hot as all hell (supposed to get to 96 today!!!) and the crusty old blister under the bunion on my right foot was bugging me, but eh. Not my best race time of the season, but it's still better than my first and that's all that counts, right?

The parents took pictures so they may be posted later ... if I feel like it.

Picture courtesy ... me! Yep, I took it last fourth.

4th 5K of the Season

Alright, another 5K under the belt. Summer Solstice 2008. It was hot out and DH's were EVERYWHERE, but for whatever reason I was feeling ok.

The course was flat, but I started off way too fast. I looked at the Nike+ data and I determined my starting pace is way too strong. I need to slow it down, not worry if people pass me, and keep it steady so that mile two is not such a bitch. Which it was tonight. I got to mile one feeling pretty good but after that I just bricked and slowed way the fuck down. Frustrated beyond belief.

Ah well, I can contribute SOME of the time to the heat.

30:04. Terrible. Frustrated.

5K #4 of the Season

Did the Summer Solstice Race again this year ... it was hot as balls, but still 10 degrees cooler than last year. They did a different course this year - looped twice (poopier than last year ... i don't like races that basically make you do laps) before finishing.

I felt kinda crappy through most of it and even had to walk with about .6 (or so) miles to go. I didn't walk much, but enough to slow my breathing down. Still ended up having one hell of an asthma attack at the end, but eh.

I think I did it in just under 30 minutes, but am not entirely sure ... will find that out later and edit accordingly.

*edits*

Gay piece of shit was done in 31:10 ... averaging just a tad over 10 minutes per mile. BOO.

3rd 5K of the Season

Stadium Stampede. Seriously, sounds like a rodeo convention. Well, that's what T and I did today, in our 3rd 5K of the season. It's kind of fun to pay to run (ok not really) but with T training for her triathalon and me being a competitive hooker, it's a fun challenge to race against other people.

Today we knew it was going to be hot. And it was. Seriously, sweat was dripping down my balls (wrinkly ball sack) and I felt not nearly hydrated enough. But armed with Nike+ and motivation, we started the race.

Started off and felt ok. Not great, like I felt in the Rockies 5K, but decent enough. The first mile came up pretty quick and I was happy about that. However, the next mile draaaaaaaaaaaaaged on. I kept looking for the 2nd mile sign, but it was nowhere to be found. I felt my pace dropping too. Plus, this course just sucked ball hair. It wasn't an interesting course like the Cherry Creek Sneak or the Rockies Run for the Hobos. No, this made you run along the Platte River, which is where the Rockies got inspiration for their 5K. I saw more than one invalid along the course, and the Platte River kind of smells. I mean, it was a flat course, don't get me wrong, but still.

Not only did I have to deal with the lousy course, but seriously, I'm getting tired of people running with their strollers. Seriously, do you need to drag along little baby junior son of a bitch to your run? Have you ever heard of a fucking babysitter?

My time chip said I did it in 30:08. Now, Nike+ ended just prior to reaching the stadium and said I did it in 26:53. As the timing chip computer registry dealie was not at the actual start of the race, but at where the finish line was, which was a difference of about .4 miles, that would make sense as to the time difference. I dunno.

Another 5K on Wednesday. Going to hopefully do even better and DAMMIT, FEED US BAGELS AND BANANAS AT THE END OF A RACE!!!!!

5K #3 of the Season

To be edited later. Suckers.

*later passes ...*

Today was 5K #3 of the season (if you couldn't - or didn't - read the title) and it was a shitty race that we shall not be repeating next year. Stadium Stampede? Go screw yourself.

Anyway, we signed up for this 5K that started at Invesco Field at Mile High (new broncos stadium) and were excited to hear it had timing chips ... but the retarded thing about the race was that the start line and the mats for the chips were at least a good tenth of a mile from each other. Does this make sense? No.

The course first looped around the stadium back toward the start and I thought, "if this gay-ass race just loops around the stadium 323857209847 times, I'm quitting right now." Luckily, it didn't, and it went along the Platte River trail* down a bit then looped back. First mile wasn't bad ... mile two, however, I swear was longer than a mile. Kept running ... and running ... and wondered where the stupid marker was ... and then finally saw it.

Mile three was also probably a bit longer than a mile too - especially according to Brandon's Nike+ thing (see his entry). This race was also stupid like the Rockies' one where you think you're nearing the end, but no! Detour inside of stadium ... at least you didn't see the finish line when you detoured. This one wasn't quite as cool, though, since we were still running on crappy, crappy pavement instead of the nice cushy warning track of Coors Field. By the time Brandon got in the stadium, Nike+ said his race was over. Stadium Stampede, however, said otherwise. Again - does this make sense? Not a chance.

In any case, I supposedly finished with a time of 32:49 ... a whole two minutes faster than my last 5K and, with 10:27 splits, a whole minute slower per mile than my run yesterday. Retarded, I know.

Plus, the post-race food sucked wrinkly ballsack. Hot dogs, apples, cinnamon rolls and ice cream sandwiches (plus nasty granola bars)? Where are my bananas and bagels? Fuckers. The only good thing about this race was the free massages afterwards ... which most races have but most other races have more people so it's not worth waiting for the massage.

In closing, fuck you, Stadium Stampede. Fuck you and your shitty t-shirts, your stupid course, your hot-ass weather (okay, not your fault, but still, man) and your crappy sense of mileage.



*See entry from a few days ago regarding the bike ride Brandon and I did. If we had kept going, we would have ended up along this same path.